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WO OLD MILLS. 



A Sketch of Pine Run and Spring Valley Mills and Some 
of Their Early Owners. 



During the second quarter of the 
eighteenth century there was consider- 
able activity in the building of grist 
and saw mills on the upjjer branches 
of the Neshaminy and on the smaller 
tributaries of the Delaware, through 
the middle section of Bucks county. 
At about that period this section be- 
came pretty well taken up by actual 
settlers, and with the clearing of the 
forests and the production of grain 
came the increased demand for home 
mills. Prior to 1720 there was proba- 
bly no mill in operation further north 
than Canby's, near Newhope, and 
Richard Mitchell's at Eush Valley, 
About 1722 the Dyerstown mill was 
erected by John Dyer, and in the next 
decade several other mills were erected 
in the neighborhood, among them 
Butler's mill, at Chalfont, and the 
Carversville mill, erected by John 
Hough and Ambrose Barcroft in 1730. 
Between that date and 1750 probably 
a dozen mills were erected in the sec- 
tion referred to, among them being 
the Spring Valley mill built by Rich- 
ard Church and Jonas Preston in 1742, 
the Turk mill by Hugh Miller, a few 
years later, and the Pine Run mill 
by Thomas Holcomb in 1744. 

The Pine Run Mill, known for two 
generations as "Swartzlander's Mill," 
and still referred to locally by that 
name, was erected upon a strip of land 
originally supposed to have been in- 
cluded in the great tract of the Free 
Society of Traders in New Britain 
township. When this tract was re- 
surveyed and sold in 1724, it was dis- 
covered that an "L" shaped tract lying 
along two lines of Buckingham town- 
ship, comprising 1100 acres, was not 
included in the metes and bounds of 
the original siirvey, and it was sold by 
the Trustees as unlocated land in two 
tracts to Jeremiah Langhorne and 
Thomas Fitzwater. 

Thomas Fitzwater transferred his 
warrant of survey to his brother 
George Fitzwater, in 1729, and on 
May 28, 1733, the strip of land 120 
perches wide, lying along the west line 
of Buckingham, was surveyed to 
George Fitzwater. It extended from 
Fountainville on the north 420 perches. 
He later purchased of Langhorne the 
remainder of the strip of the same 
width extending down to the angle in 
the old line of Buckingham at "Wallace 
Dungan's factory. Out of the first 
mentioned tract George Fitzwater, on 
June 10, 1744, conveyed to Thomas 
Holcomb, of New Britain township, 
millwright, a tract of 120 acres and 152 
perches, including the present site of 
the Pine Run Mills, now owned by 
Arthur Chapman. Thomas Holcomb 
was a son of Jacob and Mary Holcomb, 
prominent Friends of Buckingham, 
where he was born about 1712. He 
married, September 24, 1741, Hannah 
Pennell, daughter of William and 
Anna Mercer Pennell, and settled on 



the above tract of which he obtained 
a conveyance three years later, and at 
once began the erection of a mill. 
Having located his site near the west- 
ern line of bis tract he purchased two 
years later. May 20, 1746, of Clement 
Doyle, uncle of the pioneer Innkeeper 
to whom Doylestown owes its name, 
an additional tract of 43^3 acres ad- 
joining on the West, so as to obtain 
tail-race privileges. 

The milling venture does not appear 
to have been a successful one as in 
the Winter of 1749, Joshua Morris, 
obtained judgment against Holcombe 
and the property was levied upon by 
the sheriff. Contrary to the usual 
practice, on the return of the sheriff 
to the Court of Common Pleas, a 
committee was appointed to audit the 
accounts of the creditors of 'Holcomb, 
not only the one mentioned in the 
writ, but all the creditors of the said 
defendant. This may have been owing 
to the death of the defendant in the 
interim, as he died at about this time 
leaving an only son Jacob. The com- 
mittee, whicli consisted of Amos 
Strickland, Samuel Carey and William 
Croasdale, sold the mill and two 
tracts of land on September 3, 1750, 
at public sale to Joshua Morris, of 
Abington, the plaintiff in the writ, 
for £393 pounds. Though Morris con- 
tinued to hold the title as of record 
until 1758, subsequent records show 
that Owen Roberts was the nominal 
owner and operator of the mill during 
at least a portion of this period. 

During the incumbency of Roberts 
a suit was instituted against him by 
Mathew Day, who had inherited from 
his father, Christopher Day, a portion 
of the tract lying on the opposite side 
of the Swamp Road in Plumstead, for 
damages for the overflowing of his 
meadow by the erection of a mill dam 
on the Roberts property. This suit 
was settled amicably on December 
20, 1754, when Day executed a release 
to Owen Roberts, former owner, and 
Smith Cornell, the present owner, 
a'^knowleding receipt of £18, for 
which sum he released and forever dis- 
charged the said Cornell and Roberts 
"of and from all actions, suits, costs 
and damages by reason of the said 
mill dam or its overflowing his land or 
meadow ground. " 

On November 13, 1756, Joshua 
Morris conveyed the whole of the two 
tracts, comprising over 160 acres to 
Smith Cornell. On May 29, 1767, 
Cornell conveyed the same to Jacob 
Stout, of Rockhill, potter, whose 
son-in-law, Abraham Freed, became 
the tenant and operator of the mill, 
and continued as such until his death 
which occurred December 21, 1772. 

Jacob Stout was the lineal ances- 
tor in the fifth generation of Mahlon 
H. Stout, Esq., of Doylestown. He 
became a large land owner in Bucks 
and Northampton counties. His son, 



Abraham Stout, the great-grandfather 
of our townsman, was one of the best 
educated men in his community. He 
was a surveyor and scrivener and a 
great many of the old wills now on 
file in the office of the Register of 
Wills are in his handwriting. They 
are models in penmanship and neat- 
ness. He inherited the homestead prop- 
erty in Rockhill, near Perka='e, in the 
division of his father's real estate in 
1783, and died there in 1815. 

On April 17, 1770, Jacob Stout con- 
veyed the 41-acre tract adjoining the 
mill to his son-in-law, Abraham 
Freed, and the following year Freed 
purchased of Mathew Day 112 acres on 
the opposite side of the Swamp Road 
in Plumstead, and twelve acres nearer 
the mill in New Britain. On May 4, 
1772, he purchased of Richard Doyle, 
son of Clement, before mentioned, 35 
acres adjoining his first purchase. 

As before stated Abraham Freed 
died December 21, 1772. He was bur- 
ied in the old Day buring ground, on 
the corner of the Plumstead farm 
which he owned at the time of his 
death. This old burying ground was 
dedicated to the use of the public by 
the will of Christopher Day who died 
March 6, 1748-9. The tombstone of 
Abraham Freed is one of the the best 
preserved in the lot, the in.scription 
which is still perfectly legible is as 
follows : — 

HEIR RUHET IN GOTT 
ABRAHAM FREED 

1st Gestobern den 21 
December 1772, Seines 
Alter 32 Jahrs 

Wiewohl ist Meinem Leib 
Nach Augestandenem Leiden 

Wiewohl ist Meiner Seel 
In Jenen Himmels Freuden 

Mr. Freed was survived by his 
widow Salome, and two infant children, 
one five, and the other three years 
of age. Letters of administration 
were granted to the widow and her 
brother, Abraham Stout, of Rockhill. 
On December 13, 1773, when the ad- 
ministrators petitioned the Court for 
auditors to settle their accounts the 
widow signed as "Salome Freed," but 
between that date and March, 1774, 
she married Gabriel Swartzlander, who 
participated in the settlement of her 
accounts as administrator. 

Gabriel Swartzlander, who was the 
great-grandfather of Dr. Frank Swartz- 
lander, of Doylestown, was a native of 
Steinhardt in Schwartzwald, Germany, 
and came to this country with his 
father Philip Swartzlander in 1752 
when five years of age. On petition of 
the administrators, December 13, 1774, 
the land of Abraham Freed, lying in 
New Britain, 76 acres and 123 perches, 
was sold and purchased by Jacob Stout. 
Jacob Stout died about 1780, leaving 
to survive him four children. Abra- 
ham, of Rockhill, before referred to, 
Isaac, of Williams township, North- 
ampton county, Catharine, the wife of 
Jacob Schlieffer, of New Britain, and 
Salome Swartzlander. In the partition 
of the real estate between the children, 
in 1783, the mill and adjoining tracts 
in New Britain, comprising about 
200 acres were alloted to his daughter 



Salome Swartzlander. By conveyance 
to and from Christian Lacey in 1792 
the title to this land was vested in 
Gabriel Swartzlander, who continued 
to own it and reside thereon until his 
death on July 17, 1814. 

Gabriel and Salome Swartzlander 
were parents of nine children, eight of 
whom, John, Magdaline Kratz, Jacob, 
Catharine, Margaret, wife of John 
Stem ; Joseph and David, lived to 
maturity and all except Magdaline 
survived him. In 1810, Gabriel Swartz- 
lander entered into an agreement with 
his eldest son John for sale of 76 acres, 
the present Carwithen farm, but no 
conveyance was made therefor until 
after the death of both Gabriel and 
John when the administrators of the 
former conveyed it to Deborah and 
Anna, the daughters of John. The re- 
mainder of the tracts about 140 acres 
was adjudged to Joseph Swartzlander, 
the third son in 1815 under proceedings 
in partition. Jacob, the grandfather 
of Dr. Frank Swartzlander, had re- 
moved to Southampton township and 
purchased a mill there in 1808. On 
February 26, 1820, Joseph Swartzlander 
conveyed to his youngest brother. 
David, 97ii3 acres of the Homestead 
tract, lying along the Swamp road, 
retaining the mill and 41io acres until 
his death in 1875, when it was sold 
by his only son Abel, still residing in 
Doylestown township, as administrator 
to Joseph Lapp. Lapp sold otf all but 
191^ acres adjoining the mill, which 
he conveyed to Oliver S- Jacoby, No- 
vember 1, 1879. Jacoby operated the 
mill until his death in 1888 when it 
was sold to Aaron B. Detweiler. 
Detweiler sold the property to Harry 
R. Crouthamel in the Spring of 1897 
and on September 4th of that year the 
mill buildings were entirely destroyed 
by fire. The title was transferred to 
Arthur Chapman on April 1, 1898, and 
he has since erected thereon a fine 
brick mill, which is now being suc- 
cessfully operated by Henry S. Beidler, 
of Doylestown. The present building 
is the fourth erected on the same site 
in 1.^0 years. 

SPRING VALLEY MILL. 

The old mill at Mechanics' Valley, 
now owned and operated by A. K. 
Steever, was erceted by Richard 
Chni'ch and Jonas Preston soon after 
1741, on a part of a tract of 267 acres 
patented to Richard Church in that 
year by the Proprietors. The south 
corner of this tract was on the south 
side of the present Doylestown and 
Buckingham turnpike, nearly opposite 
the store property of B. S. Doan. The 
tract extended from that point straight 
across to the Street Road and in a 
northwesterly direction between paral- 
lel lines from these two points to the 
present line of the Mechanicsville road 
above Church's school house. The 
old road from Well's Ferry (Newhope) 
to Swedesford, near Norristown, in- 
tersected it diagonally. The mill site 
being located a few hundred yards 
south of the line of this road at what 
is now Riniker's Corner, from which 
point a private road, now public, ex- 
tended down along the race to the mill. 
There was at the time no public road 
south of the mill nearer than the York 



Road, but soon after the building of 
the mill a road was opened from the 
mill to the York Road, near its inter- 
section with the Swamp Road. 

Richard Church was a native of 
Ireland, and brought a certificate from 
there to Friends iu Pennsylvania, 
dated 3 mo. 4th, 1729, which he pre- 
sented to Buckingham Monthly Meet- 
ing of Friends on the tenth of the 
Tenth month in the same year. In 1735 
he married Sarah Fell, daughter of 
Joseph Fell, the pioneer of that family, 
who had recently purchased and settled 
upon a tract of land adjoining the 
Church tract. 

There is nothing to indicate that 
Richard Church was a miller by trade, 
and his want of knowledge of the craft 
probably accounts for his association 
■with Jonas Preston in the building of 
the mill. 

Preston was one of the pioneer mill- 
ers of central Bucks county, and some 
ten years prior to the building of the 
Church mill had purchased the Heaton 
mill, now Woodman's, near Langhorne, 
and was operating that mill at the 
time the Buckingham mill was built. 
He married Jane Paxson at Bucking- 
ham, 4th-mo. 6th, 1732, but was at 
least twice married later. He removed 
to Chester, Chester county, prior to 
1760. 

On April 2, 1748, Richard Church 
and -wife conveyed to Jonas Preston, a 
one-half interest in 20 acres of land on 
which "A water power grist and corn 
mill had lately been erected." On 
December 25, 1752, Isaac Fell, to 
whom the title of a portion of the 
Joseph Fell tract had descended, con- 
veyed to Church and Preston a water- 
right over his land lying west of the 
mill. The 20-acre mill tract embraced 
the lower end of the 267 acre tract and 
with a further purchase of ten acres 
in 1800, by Abraham Overholt, the 
then owner of the mill tract included 
practically the entire village of Me- 
chanic's Vallej', long known as Spring 
Valley. 

Jonas Preston on June 19, 1753, con- 
veyed his interest in the mill to Will- 
iam Preston, Mason, (probably his 
brother) who also purchased of Richard 
Church fifty acres north of the mill, 
along the Street Road. On February 
2, 1754, William Preston and Richard 
Church conveyed their respective in- 
terests in the mill to John Hough, 
Richard Church including in his con- 
veyance, the entire right to the use of 
the water passing through his whole 
plantation. Richard Church having 
re-purchased the fifty acres sold to 
William Preston continued to own the 
most of the 267 arces until his death 
in 1776, when it passed to his children, 
Moses, and Joseph Church, Sarah, 
wife of John Branin, of Evesham, 
New Jersey, Elizabeth Church, Rachel, 
wife of John Large, Mellicent, wife of 
Joseph Large and Abi wife of Jona- 
than Carlisle. In 1779 the widow and 
heirs of Richard Church conveyed to 
Jacob Landis the .50-acre Preston tract, 
and four years later Moses and Joseph 
Church purchased the balance of their 
father's land. Moses died in 1821 un- 
married and Joseph in 1828, leaving 
several children. Richard Church is 
buried upon his old farm near Chnreh's 



school house, whore a rude wall en- 
closes his last resting place. The only 
descendants of Richard Church who 
bear his name are the children and 
grandchildren of the late Eleazer F. 
Church of Newtown who was a grand- 
son of Joseph Church. There are how- 
ever a number of his lineal descendants 
still residing in Bucks county the off- 
spring of his daughters and the daugh- 
ters of Joseph Chnrch. 

John Hough who purchased the mill 
in 1754 was probably the son of John 
Hough the pioneer miller of Carvers 
ville, but since John Hough of the 
Warwick family was also a miller it is 
impossible to determined which one 
of them was the owner of the Buck- 
ingham milL He conveyed a one-half 
interest in the mill in 1757 to John 
Barnhill the great-great-grandfather 
of President Roosevelt, and the follow- 
ing year joined with Barnhill in the 
conveyance of the whole interest to 
James Carmalt and James Wilson. In 

1762 Carmalt and Wilson conveytd it 
to Robert and Ellis Lewis of Phila- 
delphia. On February 4 ,1764, the 
Lewises conveyed it to John McKinley. 
It is certain that during at least a por- 
tion of the period between 1757 and 
1764 the mill was not operated by the 
owners of the fee. In 1764 when the 
present road from Dyerstown to 
Mechanics Valley was opened it was to 
extend "from Dyer's mill to a mill 
known as Eastey's mill." The 
"Eastey" referred to was Moses Este 
who in 1756 removed from Enfield, 
Conn., to this section of Bucks county 
where he continued to reside until 

1763 or 1764 when he removed to Read- 
ington, Hunterdon county, New Jer- 
sev. That he resided in this neighbor- 
ho"od is shown by his signing, with 
several other residents of Buckingham 
a petition for license at Gardenville 
during the period mentioned and being 
the only one of the name ever known 
to reside in this section there can be 
little doubt of his identity. 

John McKinley continued to -operate 
the mill until Nov. 23, 1772^ when he 
conveyed it to John Clemens. John 
Clemens died seized of the mill prop- 
erty and by will proved February 21, 
1782, directed it to be sold, ^ and the 
proceeds to be divided between his son 
Jacob and the children of his decesased 
daughters, Margaret Buckwalter and 
Ann Springer. His executors conveyed 
the mill the following year to Abra- 
ham Landis who married Ann the 
daughter of Margaret Buckwalter. 
Up to this time the mill property had 
enjoyed a monopoly of the water pass- 
ing through the other land formerly 
owned by Richard Church. Jacob 
Landis, as before stated, had purchased 
of the heirs of Richard Church the 
fifty acres lying along the Street Road 
through which the mill stream flowed. 
He was a . joiner and desiring tc 
utilize the water power on his property 
he purchased of his brother for flft} 
pounds the right to use the water-powei 
for a saw mill or other purpose "othei 
than a grist mill," and eracted a saw 
mill at the present site of the mill now 
owned by Reuben High. To this wai 
added an oil mill soon after and ir 
1849, when both mill properties wer( 
sold by the assignees of Samuel Yard 



ley the neglect to reserve the right in 
deed to Samuel Richardson, was taken 
advantage of by the purchaser and a 
grist mill was established, though the 
deeds for the lower mill continue to 
contain the grant of the old time 
privileges over this land, as did also 
the deed from the assignees, though of 
later date than the deed to Eichard- 
eon. 

Abraham Landes only retained the 
title one year, but during that time 
acquired from Uriah Hughes, who 
owned the land whereon the blacksmith 
and wheelwright shops now stand, a ' 
tail race privilege extending down to 
the present line of the turnpike. He 
conveyed the mill property to John 
Fritzinger, a former resident of New 
Britain, in 1784. Fritzinger operated 
the mill for six years conveying it to 
Christian Wierman in 1790, who the 
following year transferred the title to 
Abraham Overholt of Franconia town- 
ship, Montgomery county. 

As before stated Abraham Overholt 
in 1800 added to the mill property ten 
acres out of the Archibald tract. This 
tract at its North corner extended 
across the Doylestown road near the 
Clift house and included a small tri- 
angular piece of the Callender property 
on the opposite side of the road. Over- 
holt passed the title to Michael Moyer 
in the Spring of 1801 and he, three 
years later transferred it to Morris 
Heston,who died the same year, and the 
following Spring his administrators 
conveyed the property to Israel Pen- 
rose. 

Prior to this date an oil mill had 
been added to the plant and Penrose 
also established a distillery on the 
property. The distillery was not part 
of the mill site proper, but was prob- 
ably located where Mrs. Lydia Frank- 
enfield now resides on the Doylestown 
pike. Penrose purchased ten acres 
more of the Archibald tract and about 
twenty acres of the Church tract, all 
that part lying north of the mill and 
south of the old Newhope road, mak- 
ing his total holdings sixty-three 
acres. Under his administration the 
little village began to improve, but be- 
coming involved in debt the property 
was sold by the Sheriff April 30, 1829, 
to Jonathan Hough. During the tenure 
of Hough the opening of the Doyles- 
town road gave a new impetus to the 
village, and various new industries 
were established. The old distillery 
became a joiner shop, and a "Temper- 
ance House" was erected at the corner 
now occupied by the store. In 1838 
Jonathan Hough sold the mill and 
water rights and six acres and sixty- 
three perches of land to Samuel Yard- 
ley, Jr., of Doylestown, who also pur- 
chased the oil and saw mill erected by 
Jacob Landis in 1784. Hough retained 
the "Mansion House" and stable for- 
merly connected with the mill. The 
former was the long stone house now 
occupied by John Neff and the stable 
occupied the site of the late Amy 
Callender's stable. Either at this time, 
or previously, a two- story frame house 
was erected on a triangular piece of 
land, (now included in the Callender 
property), opposite the mill, which 



was included in the conveyani^e to 
Yardley by Hough. Jonathan Hough 
died December 22, 1838, leaving to 
survive him a widow, Susanna, and 
seven children, Mary, the wife of Jos- 
eph Beans, and mother of the late 
Joshua Beans, Esq., of Doylestown, 
Eliza, who remained single, Oliver 
Joseph, David, Henry and Thomas. 
The property was divided by proceed- 
ings in partition into five tracts. 
Eliza Hough accepted a tract of four 
acres lying south of the Doylestown 
road, part of the ten acres purchased 
by Overholt in 1800, upon which was 
the joiner shop and some sheds. The 
Temperance House and 128 perches, 
the greater part of the present Callen- 
der property, was sold to Joseph Beans 
and he a few years later conveyed it to 
Thomas Hall who opened a store 
thereon. The balance of the land was 
purchased by Hugh Meredith. All 
the children of Jonathan Hough are 
now deceased. Oliver died in Plum- 
stead township, and his widow and son, 
Henry H. Hough, removed to the 
village of Buckingham where they re- 
sided until within a few years. Two 
of the sons of Oliver are now residing 
in Florida. Henry Hough died in Doy- 
lestov/n several years ago and a daugh- 
ter still resides there. Joseph Hough 
was somewhat of a genius, but dis- 
sipated and exceedingly eccentric, he 
invented and patented several useful 
inventions. He devoted many years to 
the perfection of a propeller for 
steamboats and prepared a model 
which was operated on the old mill 
dam. 

Samuel Yardley, continued to re- 
side in Doylestown where he con- 
ducted a store, but operated the mills 
under his own supervision. The upper 
mill was conducted for a number of 
years by the father of ex-Recorder 
Isaac O'Connell. Yardley made an as- 
signment for the benefit of his credi- 
tors in 1847 and the mills were sold 
the following year. The Spring Val- 
ley mill was purchased by Jacob 
Willig, of New Jersey, who retained 
the title until April 1, 18.54. During 
the tenure of Willig the dwelling 
house in wLich he resided, standing 
on the opposite side of the road from 
the mill, was burned down and a 
young German girl, a domestic in the 
family, was so badly burned that she 
died the next day. The house was 
never rebuilt and its site was soon 
after absorbed into the Callender 
property and Samuel Frankenfield, 
who purchased the property of Willig, 
erected the present dwelling across 
the road. 

The mill was sold by the Sheriff in 
1856 and purchased by Moses P. Hall 
who was at that time conducting the 
store on the corner . He conveyed it 
the following year to Edward W. Hall 
who conducted it until 1866, when it 
was purchased by the late Andrew J, 
Larue who transferred the title the 
following year to John S. Matthews. 

It was again sold by the Sheriff in 
1874 to Ralph Shelly, whose assignees 
conveyed it in 1893 to A. K. Steever, 
the present owner. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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